Rotary drier.



w. T. PERKINS & R. R. HICKCOX.

ROTARY DRIER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1. 1915.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

W. T. PERKINS & R. R. HICKCOX.

ROTARY DRIER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.1. 1915.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

which the following is a specification.

5 WILLIAM 'r. rnnxrns Ami ROTARY masses.-

W Application filed March 1,

Toizll whom it may concern: I

1 Be it known that we,W1LLIAM.T."PERK1Ns v and'RoY'RRHIoK'oox, citizeils of the United States, residing at Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Driers, of,

v Thisinvention is in the nature of a rotary drier especially designed fon drying lithographic? plates.

Lithographic plates are usually made of metal and when they come from the press are wet, or atleast damp, and must be handled carefully until they are thoroughly dried, as the slightest touch of the fingers on the surface smudge the printing on the plate and ruin the plate. These plates are handled for the a most part by hand, being passed from the press to a rotary belt from which they are carefully lifted by hand, placed in racks and sent to the oven or'drier room in which they are dried. Besides the danger of smudging or'ruining the plates before drying, the present methods of handling the plates involve much expense and delay, and it is the special object of this invention to and with provide a"mechanical drier whichwjill obv1ate the necessity of handling the plates this object in view, the invention consists in the approved construction, 'arrangement and combination of the parts of a drier which will be hereinafter full described and afterward specifically claimed.

5 In order thatthe operation andconstrucwe have illustrated tion thereof may be readily comprehended,

an approved embodiment of'the invention in the accomfpfimying ly'denally through the'drier,

' scribe the same,

g reference to said by the same reference dharacters wherever'they appear 1sides 8 the top in a plurality'of the figuresjofthe drawings. Referring specifically to the drawings, 5

indicates the bottom, 6, 6, the ends, 7, 7, the

of the main body or Specification of Letters'Patent'.

while handling the plate will by sired. Inasmuch as the tially duplicates of each other, a speclfic dea Roy R. nIcKcox, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

DRIER. 1

Patented Aug. it, 1915. 1915. Seria1No.11,42 5..

aints mama ension I what might be termed the casing of the I drier; The parts mentioned may be of any approved material and this, as well as the particular size and shape of the main body or casing, form no p'artof the present invention.

of the casing through which the lithoe graphic plates are entered from the one of said plates being indicated by broken lines at 10, partly projecting through the At 9 is indicated an opening at the .top

'opening 9, resting upon a deflector 11, and supported by an arm 12 of a latch 13 which in turn rests against a pin 14; and is normally heldin the-spri 15 secured at its outer end to tion as shown in Fig. 1, being 1n proper position to receive the plate 10 from the press, not shown.

At -16 are indicated cross bars, preferably -beams,secured in the side walls 7, and upon these beams rest longitudinal track beams.17. Similar cross bars 18,-supported in a like manner," carry track beams 19 which depend therefrom andcomp'ris'e veryielding contact therewith.

n the casing, tie arm 12, in -its normal posi-' tical sections 20, horizontal sections 21 and vertical trackbars 22, as clearly indicated-in .mg 2. Other similaricro'ssbars 23 have similar track bars 2 1 depending therefrom and in the position inclinedfrom the horizont'al, saidtrack bars 24 com rising ver-.- tical sections '25, horizontal sections 26 and turned, up-vertical sections forming track bars 27. v

At 28 is indicated atransverse shaft properly journaled and carrying the sprocket wheels 29, a' similar shaft 30 carrying sprocket wheels 31 and a third shaft 32 car- 'rymg idler sprocket wheels 33. We have shown in Fig. 2 duplicate sets of sprocket .wheels .31, there being but it will be obvious that the drier might a pair 1n each set, be made with 'only a single set of sprocket wheels or three or more sets as may be desets are substan-' scription of one set will' sui'lice for both except that it may be well to mention that the .track beam 19 between the two sets, as shown in Fig.2, is in asingle piece.

. The transverse beams 16, 18 and 23 are secured to the walls of the casing in any suitable manner and the track beams 1 rest upon-the top of the transverse beam 16, 11w

while the track beams 19and 24 are suitably riveted or otherwise fastened to the under side of the transverse beams 18 and 23.

In Fig' 3 we have shown in detail the" sprocket chain 34 which is passed around the sprocket wheels 29 and 31 and under the idler wheels 33, said sprocket chain comprising side bars, 35, 36, between which are rollers 37 on the journals or plus 38, said pins serving to connect the side bars and I '33'are reached, from which point the rollers of the lower half of the chain rest upon the track bars 27 until the sprocket wheels 29 are reached.

On one side 'of the plates 35 ofjthe sprocket chain 34, cars 39 are provided which project laterally and horizontally and are provided with openings 40, the ears 39 of the right hand sprocket chain of each pair extending to the left and those of the left hand sprocket chain to the right, thus shown in Fig. 2.

both sets of ears projecting inwardly as In the openings 40 are mounted armsof '35 heavy wire or rod which we shall denomi-.

nate trays 41 each of which comprises radial slde bars 42 and transverse cross bars 43, connected to said bars by curved bars 44 extending rearwardly, with relation ,to thedirection of movement of the chain as.

,ed in any suitable manner, steam pipes 45 being shown in Fig, 1, located within the lines of travel of the sprocket chains where-;

by all parts of the chains and their contents,

are subjected to the heat from said pipes.

- In operation, a lithographic plate as at 10 1s passed from the press, not shown, into and virtually through the opening 9, restingagainst the deflectorll and arm 12 as before described, as shown in Fig.1. 1 The sprocket wheels being set in motion, the

' tray 34 of Fig. 1 soon strikes the lower end of the latch" 13, pressing it forward against the action of the spring 15 until the. sup porting arm 12 slips'fro'm under the plate '10, allowing said plate tofdrop upon the upper surface and in front of the succeeding tray 34" and the tray 34 is shown in ad--. stance of the tray 34? with a plate 10* resting upon its forward face in the same manner as the plate 10 will rest upon' the tray 34 when it has been carried forward beyond the latch 13 as before described. With the plate'lO resting upon the tray 34, the further operation of the mechanism will carry all of-the trays'on the upper side of thechain, including said tray 34, to the right, and as-soon as that part of the chain which carries a tray having a plate thereon goes to turn around the sprocket wheels 31, the plate 1O will. drop .off the tray 34 upon the advanced tray 34, lodging on therear the tray 34 and causes the inner end of the plate 10 to drop back against the succeeding tray and the plate will be carried along in this position with its lower end resting in the curved bars of the tray 34? and its upperedgeresting against the forward side of thetray 34 until the tray 34 reaches substantially the position of the tray 34 at the left hand end of Fig. 1, when the plate will drop off the tray and through the open- -face thereof as clearly shown in Fig. 2. In'

ing 46 in the bottom of-the casing where suitable disposition of it may bemade.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that we have provided effectual means whereby lithographic plates are raised from the press and are duly dried without the necessity of handling them at any time, thereby obviating the danger incurred in handling wet or damp plates, and dispensing. with the expenditure of time and labor necessary to such manual manipulation.

In the foregoing-description we have particularly specified the construction, location and operation of the various parts comprised in our invention, but it will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the invention most nearly, a'ppertains,that many slight-changes and variations may. be made within the scope of the claiins, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. I

Having thus fully described our tion, what we claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is- 1.111 a drier bf the class specified, a pair of conveyer chains, and a series of radially projecting metallic trays carried by said chains', each tray comprising radial bars and outer cross bars connected to said radial invenbars by rearwardly projecting curved bends. j

2. In a drier of the class specified, a pair of conveyer chains, and a' series of radially casing, the latch being located to'be tripped by the trays.

3. In a drier of the class specified, the combination with a casing, of three shafts, a pair of sprocket wheels on each shaft, a pair of conveyer chains passing around said wheels, ears projecting inwardly from the links of each of the chains, metallic rods mounted in said ears and connected at their outer ends to form the trays to receive plates.

4. In a drier of the class specified, the

combination with a casing, of three shafts, a pairof sprocket wheels on each shaft, a pair otconveyer chains passing around said wheels, ears projecting inwardly from the links of each of the chains, metallic rods mounted in said ears and connected at their outer ends to form trays carriedby said chains, track beams supportedwithin the casing in' the paths of the conveyer chains,

and rollers forming parts of the links of the chains and engaging said track beams.

5. In a drier of the class specified, the

combination of a casing, transverse beams secured in saidcasing, track beams resting 'upon sald transverse beams, a palr of con veyer. chainsmounted to cause their upper sides to pass over said beams, rollers forming parts of the links of said chains and resting upon the track beams, ears projecti'ng inwardly from the links of eachof the I chains, metallic rods mounted in said ears metallic rods. mounted in said ears and conears projecting inv their upper I nected at their outer ends to form radially pro ecting trays carried by the chains, reversed transverse beams secured to the casing,.track beams depending from said reversed transverse beams and having upturned track bars, chains being below the reversed transverse beams withtheir rollers resting upon the upturned track bars.

In testimony whereofwe af'fix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM T. PERKINS. ROY R. HICKCOXL Witnesses: E. WALTON BREWINGTON,

" HOWARD D. ADAMS.

the under sides of the 

